World reaction to long queues of voters in US • Hacker News Board

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#41

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #15

cletus wrote: post #4

In Australia we have two things the US system desperately needs: mandatory voting and preferential voting. Preferential voting allows you to vote for a third party without wasting your vote. The standard argument against mandatory voting is people not wanting the uninformed to vote (trust me, they're voting) and the usual US predilection against that infringing "freedom". I was sympathetic to this until I saw the US…

We don't have either of those things in the UK and I've never had to queue to vote - the whole process only takes a couple of minutes.

> I've never had to queue to vote

In live and vote in the US. Never waited in a queue. Just dropped off my ballot at a local ballot box. Not sure why the people in the article can’t do that, but I’ve lived in 4 states and all of them had ballot boxes.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#42

Post by 0x262d » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

Taek wrote: post #2

It's both amazing and terrible. Amazing to see people standing up for their rights and voting in the face of adversity, these voters deserve praise and are role models for the country. Terrible because it means that they are in corrupt districts that are not properly facilitating democracy. Worthy of a federal corruption investigation potentially resulting in criminal charges. Though I am very glad people are willing…

It drives me nuts that the "opposition" party is not responding to this with calls for mass action to demand fair elections, including occupations and strikes if necessary, but by exhorting unlikely voters who feel apathetic to vote harder against voter suppression.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#43

Post by beervirus » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

dvtrn wrote: post #24

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #13

Why would you wait in line 11 hours to vote when you can drop off your ballot at a ballot box?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/us/texas-election-ballot-drop... One ballot box per county in some counties means waiting hours in line for that too.

You can also mail them in. That whole thing was a fake controversy.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#44

Post by Sargos » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

manishsharan wrote: post #9

I think the most worrying aspect is an emerging strain of political thought in the US that USA is merely a republic but not a democracy. I find it quite shocking that it has gained a great deal of acceptance. edit : typo

The USA is technically not a democracy and is instead a representative republic which is a fact. I guess you're alluding to how citizens can "vote" which means it's actually a democracy to which I would strongly disagree. I have little to no influence over my government as I live in a gerrymandered district so my representative is decided for me ahead of time. I also only get to pick between 2 old white guys every 4 years which is me actually being optimistic as I don't live in a state that actually decides the presidential election so my vote doesn't matter there either.

In a democracy I would actually be able to vote on issues and have my voice heard. That's clearly not happening in the USA.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#45

Post by wutbrodo » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

0x262d wrote: post #21

This article is an incredibly misleading, fake positive framing of what is in reality a rapidly failing democratic system. An 11-hour wait to vote is absolutely prohibitive to many of the people who most need change, on top of being terrible for everyone else; not that that is anything new for the US. It's basically a poll tax, which is one of the most regressively anti-democratic tools, but applied unevenly by locat…

What on Earth are you talking about? The headline, first paragraph, and last two thirds of the article are all about _criticism_ of long voting lines. The fact that they spend part of the article acknowledging that some in the US take pride in coming out to vote in the face of long lines doesn't mean that they're taking this position, especially given that most of the article is dedicated to criticism of the conditions.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#46

Post by itsangaris » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

jdmichal wrote: post #19

So, these lines are not representative of an actual election day. Actual election day is November 3, 2020. Some states are in early voting right now [0]. That typically means that there's a very limited number of polling stations open. For instance, in Pinellas County, FL there's only 5 early voting locations, compared to 301 poll locations during election day. That's a 60x discrepancy! This is for 713,000 registered…

At the end of the day ordering the new iPhone should not be easier than voting

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#47

Post by bpt3 » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:27 PM UTC

I'm not saying this is universally true, but in my area, a large portion of the people standing in these long lines are intentionally doing so to make a political statement (or more skeptically, are virtue signaling).

There has been one voting station open in the entire county which adequately supported early voting based on historical trends, while dozens more are opening soon and will reduce (if not entirely eliminate) the long lines.

Personally, I'm waiting until then to vote.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#48

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

thebooktocome wrote: post #27

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #13

Why would you wait in line 11 hours to vote when you can drop off your ballot at a ballot box?

Because where they do exist, it's really hard to tell if that ballot box is real. Because one political party has decided to install fake ballot boxes.

Source?

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#49

Post by api » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

Kapura wrote: post #31

Disgusting country. The GOP is actively supporting and implementing systems of voter suppression, and the opposition party doesn't seem to have the will to do anything about it. I was concerned about the reports of foreign influence on the 2016 election. Since then, the senators in Washington have made it crystal clear that they do not want to protect the integrity of the election. The Republicans want to win at all…

The Democrats are a terrible opposition party. They only look good in comparison with the Republicans and their embrace of full blown doctrinaire fascist ideology.

Re: World reaction to long queues of voters in US

#50

Post by failuser » Wed, Oct 14, 2020, 3:28 PM UTC

manishsharan wrote: post #9

I think the most worrying aspect is an emerging strain of political thought in the US that USA is merely a republic but not a democracy. I find it quite shocking that it has gained a great deal of acceptance. edit : typo

Republic and democracy are orthogonal. Constitutional monarchy is usually democratic, and republic can be autocratic. Somehow a lot of people miss that.